Can Money and Religion Substitute For Each Other?

Ezgi Akpinar, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Kathleen Vohs, University of Minnesota, USA

Money and religion are two central forces that drive human behavior. We tested the hypothesis that money and religion can substitute for each other. As predicted, we found that reminders of money led to less reliance on religious coping, whereas reminders of religion weakened participants’ desire for money, and that this effect was because religion made people feel efficacious.